Smith to the Front Line
by Hephaestus99
Summary: Hephaestus has one thing in mind: being the best blacksmith in all of Aincrad. His wish: to be sought after by monster hunters and player killers alike. But when he discovers the twist of SAO, what will he decide to do, and what price will he be willing to pay?
1. Chapter 1

Blacksmith of the Gods Hepheastus99

-Prologue-

I was so proud of myself for setting this up. I had waited almost three full days in line for a copy of Sword Art Online, and it was worth losing my job. Who needed to be a telemarketer really? I hated it anyway and am glad I don't have to worry about that getting in the way of what's in store. I broke things off with the girl I was interested in, no big loss their either, I couldn't shake the feeling she was only using me to make her ex jealous anyway. All that was left was me, my small apartment with the rent and utilities already paid for the month, and SAO.

I got home from the grocery, using what little money I had left to purchase frozen foods for quick and easy consumption, didn't want to stay away too long from Aincrad, and now it was time to put my NerveGear on and load up the game. I placed the visor over my eyes, waited for the initial boot as I got comfortable in my full size bed, and yelled, "LINK START!"

-Chapter 1-

A rush of light passed into my eyes as my five senses were connected via the NerveGear. Each one loaded and I was requested to make a character. I had planned this for months watching clips from the betas and reading the reviews. My character's name: Hepheastus, height: 6 ft tall, weight: 225 pounds, weapon style: hammer, skill focus: blacksmith. I reviewed each little detail, wondering if I should make his appearance less like mine, but what did it matter? I was going to be known throughout Aincrad for my skills as a blacksmith, the best there ever was. My weapons would be used from anything ranging from crushing the creatures in the level to dominating in PvP. No monster or player would be safe from my weapons. I accepted.

Another flash of light as I popped into the world. My eyes adjusted, my skin and the clothes on it felt incredibly real, I took in a breath of the freshest air I'd ever breathed, tasting it on my tongue as I heard all the other players appearing around me. I let my body adjust as people began running around, some running off too impatient to wait and adjust, tripping over themselves, others either too nervous or not in it for the game itself but rather the social aspect of it.

I ran into the Town of Beginning's blacksmith shop, checking its wares. Everything was standard first level gear, the stats of which weren't too incredible. Of course I only had the starting Col of 100 like all the other players so everything was accessible to me but a special version of each weapon at the end of the shop. I was disappointed in my hammer, being a small mallet as the default option, and was even more disappointed that the first hammer truly usable by a blacksmith to forge weapons was 200 Col. I had pondered and perused long enough and decided I needed it right then and now!

"100 Col to the person who can defeat me!" I shouted as I turned around. I was met with quite a few places in the market all puzzled. I realized that my characters stature and attitude were aggressive and people might actually think it too be true so I shouted again, "I know that I am the strongest one here, if anyone would like to challenge that step up now and prove me wrong!"

"I accept your challenge," said an equally as large man in the crowd, a short blade user, still only possessing the starting knife, "and I get all your money when you die?"

"That's the deal," I said as I sent Gregor, apparently that was his username, a Total Loss Duel challenge. He accepted and the sixty second timer began.

Their wasn't much for us to do as the clock counted down, we had both just started and it seemed we hadn't done much in getting anything besides the default equipment. I tightened my grip on my mallet as I started bouncing on my toes. He hunkered down, removed his knife from its sheath and stared at me with an evil intent, 'This would be one of my future PvP customers it seems,' I thought to myself, he really wants my gold and my life. The timer hit 0 and he rushed forward, and tripped.

I walked over to him, laughing at the fact that he had tripped on his own knife and taken a hit that reduced his HP down to three quarters of its bar and it slowly dripped away as he lay there embarrassed. I don't think he realized how quickly I could get to him or that his knife was still taking away his bar, because as I raised my hammer, holding it in the air for show as a crowd had grown around us and feeling it begin to charge and energy flow into me, he did nothing. I slammed the hammer down hard, taking what remained of his bar with my swing. He turned into a pile of pixels and then faded away as I walked away, a half of a level and 100 Col richer.

I walked up to the NPC at the blacksmith shop again, ready to purchase my hammer until I was sucked back into the starting point in the center of the town. I turned around, wondering if it was a glitch or something, as it started to fill up more and more with people. I looked up and saw the skies begin to change as a figure floated down towards us. He called to us as the God of this world, welcoming us to it and giving us a run down on something new, something that made me sick to my stomach, so much so that if I could have puked with my character I would have. He told us that it was not only possible for your characters to die, but if they did you would yourself in the real world, as well as if your NerveGear was tampered with your brain would be microwaved into non-existence. We were trapped, unable to log out, and made aware that if we die now, we would be dead for real. I could do nothing but curl up and scream as a child was shown on the newsfeed, 'ten year old player, username Gregor, found dead by parents.' I had murdered a child because I was impatient, because I wanted a stupid hammer. "What kind of sick and twisted game is this!?" I screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

Smith to the Front Lines

-Chapter 2 -

Everyone's true self was revealed. Men turned out to be scrawnier or fatter than they initially appeared, several people shrank, and even a few of the girls turned out to be boys themselves. Every screamed for one reason or another but I was still screaming over the images I had just witnessed. "Poor Gregor," I mumbled through the sobbing. I threw my head back, "What have I done!" I noticed the players in my peripheral had backed away from me and I started to look around. A few of them seemed to be unfamiliar, who had simply been surprised by my screaming, while I recognized a few from the scene at the market. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw the realization that I had come to appear in their faces as well. I could feel their revulsion at me twice as powerful.

"You're the one who murdered that dude in the market!" yelled one, "Everyone! This guy killed someone, he's a monster!" He even tried to swing at me, but a hexagonal prompt blocked him. 'No fighting in safe zones!' it read. It didn't stop him. He wailed on it, trying to break through and actually hit me. I looked up into his eyes, nothing but hate and rage. He finally stopped and, as he glared at me, opened up his window: sending me a request for a total loss duel. Part of me wanted to whimper and reject it, keep on living. But how could I after what I had done.

I reached for the accept button and just before I did I was stopped by a hand. Soft and delicate she held firm as I resisted her, oddly strong for how small she was. I looked up into her purple eyes and she stared back at me. They were fierce and strong, she never let them falter from mine even as she shook her head no. Her thick, long silver hair blocked the view of the man behind her still requesting the duel who berated her with insults as well. "How are you going to let this bastard live? He's a cold blooded killer!"

"Well what would that make you exactly!?" she yelled as she whipped her head at him, "You can't be so hypocritical and awful that you think killing him would make anything better! That player is gone! I'm sure he didn't know that by winning the fight he would have actually taken that guys life, look at how he's crying now! Each life left in this game is precious and we can't just throw them away!"

He stood there motionless, regretting what he had said and done, if only just a little bit. I could see he still hated me and thought I deserved it, but wasn't the type to actually kill someone.

I stood up with her assistance. "Thanks for stopping me back there," I almost whispered, "I don't know why you would –

"You wanna be a blacksmith right? I saw you looking at hammers before the duel, that's why you did it huh?" She asked.

Flabbergasted, "Ye..Yeah, I can't smith anything besides trinkets with this one," I said, turning and tilting the hammer I still hadn't replaced, "with that one I could start working on basic weapons and tools to increase my blacksmith level. Why do you ask?"

"You seem to know a bit about this game coming in, and you were passionate enough that you wanted to start as soon as possible. If we are going to beat this game we need to have someone to rely on when it comes to repairs and some serious weapons. Don't give up yet, we're going to need each one of us to topple this place."

I nodded my head and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Alexandria," she said with a smile, "a katana wielder, who will be in need of a good blacksmith. We should be friends and party up so we can keep in touch!" She was incredibly excited now, which given what just happened moments ago seemed more relaxing and even brought a smile to my face.

"Sure!" I said as I sent the requests. She giddily accepted them and her name appeared in front of me as a member of my party.


End file.
